"You would not have run away from Vannes as you did, perhaps?"
"No; what did you say when you couldn't find me?"
"Ah, indeed; you reflect, do you? Well, and what has that reflection led to?"
"Come, then, tell me, what did you guess after all?" said Porthos, settling himself into an armchair and assuming the airs of a sphinx.
"I guessed, in the first place, that you were fortifying Belle-Isle."
"There was no great difficulty in that, for you saw me at work."
"Wait a minute; I also guessed something else--that you were fortifying Belle-Isle by M. Fouquet's orders."
"But not all. Whenever I feel myself in train for guessing, I do not stop on my road; and so I guessed that M. Fouquet wished to preserve the most absolute secrecy respecting these fortifications."
"I believe that was his intention, in fact," said Porthos.
"Yes; but do you know why he wished to keep it secret?"
"Because it should not be known, perhaps," said Porthos.
"That was his principal reason. But his wish was subservient to an affair of generosity--"
"In fact," said Porthos, "I have heard it said that M. Fouquet was a very generous man."
"To an affair of generosity which he wished to exhibit toward the king."
"By a very simple means. I heard M. Fouquet himself say so to the king."
"That he had fortified Belle-Isle on his majesty's account, and that he made him a present of Belle-Isle."
"And you heard M. Fouquet say that to the king?"
"'Belle-Isle has been fortified by an engineer, one of my friends, a man of a great deal of merit, whom I shall ask your majesty's permission to present to you.'
"'The Baron de Vallon,' M. Fouquet replied.
"'Very well,' returned his majesty, 'you will present him to me.'"
"Oh, oh!" said Porthos. "Why have I not been presented, then?"
"Have they not spoken to you about this presentation?"
"Yes, certainly; but I am always kept waiting for it."
"Humph! humph!" grumbled Porthos, which D'Artagnan pretended not to hear; and, changing the conversation, he said, "You seem to be living in a very solitary place here, my dear fellow?"
"I always preferred retirement. I am of a melancholy disposition," replied Porthos, with a sigh.
"Really, that is odd," said D'Artagnan; "I never remarked that before."
"It is only since I have taken to reading," said Porthos, with a thoughtful air.